Pies are a favorite dessert due to the taste, texture, wide variety available and “sweet-tooth” appeal. Many bakers often add decorative touches to the upper pie crust before baking to increase the aesthetic appeal of the pie. These touches may be a letter to indicate the type of pie, or may be elaborate lattice work. In any case, the decorative pattern forms a signature trademark which distinguishes one (1) baker's pie from another.
Cutting devices for pastry dough is well known, generally taking the form of a walled body forming a closed hollow shape and an engaging handle. The hollow shape is pressed into the dough and the dough is cut into a shape corresponding to the figure made by the walled cutter. Various attempts have been made to provide dough forming and cutting devices as seen in several U.S. Patents, including U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,077,014, issued in the name of Samuel, which describes a culinary device; 2,214,475, issued in the name of Napolillo, which describes a dough cutter; 2,618,852, issued in the name of Clough, which describes a pie top cutter; 2,968,261, issued in the name of Tonkin, which describes a pie crust and other dough stock templates; 3,166,027, issued in the name of Sprenzel, which describes a dough forming and sizing device; 3,322,074, issued in the name of Malnory, which describes a dough mold; 4,522,580, issued in the name of Poister, which describes a dough roller and shaper device for pie crusts and the like; and 5,303,473, issued in the name of Sadler, which describes a cookie cutter.
Typically if a baker wishes to create various dough cut-outs, numerous individual dough cutters must be collected, stored, retrieved, and used. This creates difficulties in storage and organization for a large number of cutters. Additionally, traditional dough cutters provide small handles or are utilized with a standard rolling pin, which are awkward and uncomfortable during repeated use and create additional storage difficulties. Attempts to solve for these disadvantages can be seen by reference to several U.S. Pat. No. 4,345,516, issued in the name of Sinclair, describes a cooking and cutting implement comprising a hollow cylindrical ring with a cutting edge for cutting circular shapes and a flat edge for cooking an egg within the ring and a handle supported on the edge of the ring. U.S. Pat. No. 4,384,838, issued in the name of Laughlin, describes a pie cutting and decorating apparatus for decoratively impressing a top crust for a filled pie comprising a flat annular plate with a cutting rim on an underside and a handle that projects outward from the plate. U.S. Pat. No. 6,381,852, issued in the name of Wallays, et al., describes a pastry cutter set with combined storage case and support comprising a plurality of cutter suitable for stamping shapes into rolled pastry dough and a storage case that provides a means to stack and store the cutters.
Additionally, ornamental designs for dough cutting devices exist, particularly, U.S. Pat. Nos. D 282,893; D 303,474; D 304,403; D 307,371; and D 311,117. However, none of these designs are similar to the present invention.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives, each of these references suffers from one (1) or more of the aforementioned disadvantages. Accordingly, there exists a need for a means by which bakers can provide their pies with aesthetic qualities that help to differentiate their pies from others. The development of the present invention substantially departs from the conventional solutions and in doing so fulfills this need.